Okie Bell Strikes Gold At Chili Bowl

Christopher Bell brought The Golden Driller Award back to Oklahoma when he won the Chili Bowl in Tulsa on Saturday night. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/NASCAR via Getty Images)

In 1994, Andy Hillenburg became the first Oklahoman to win the prestigious Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals. The Golden Driller Award made its way home Saturday night as Norman, Oklahoma’s, Christopher Bell emerged as champion of the 31st annual edition of the “Mecca of Midgets” in Tulsa.

Driving the No. 71W for Keith Kunz Motorsports, Bell’s win was his car-owner’s sixth overall Chili Bowl title since ’94 _ when Hillenburg wheeled the Keith and Rusty Kunz-owned entry into Victory Lane.

“I’m speechless right now,” Bell said after the 55-lapper at River Spirit Expo Center. “I’ve been coming to this building for so long trying to win one of these things, and I thought I was really close at the Shootout a couple weeks ago. We had a lot of bad luck, but I’ll trade all that bad luck in for this Driller right here.”

Bell, a development driver for Toyota and Kyle Busch Motorsports in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, is not far-removed from his open-wheel roots from Norman through the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex via Interstate 35.

“This means the world to me,” said Bell, 22. “Most of my bad luck in this race has been self-inflicted. You know, I’ve been in this position before. I think this is the third time I’ve started on the front row and I would run into trouble because I was pushing too hard. Every time I’ve come here, it’s been attack, attack, attack and in this 55-lap race, you don’t need to do that so I just ran as hard as I needed to.”

The Kunz/Toyota combination gridded the championship A-Main outside the front row, with Bell playing the role of hunter the first 25 laps as Indiana’s Justin Grant paced the field in the Clauson-Marshal No. 39BC. With the high side of the clay racing surface coming into play around Lap 15, Bell began reeling-in the #Driven2SaveLives No. 39BC. Bell then overtook Grant with a highline pass off Turn 2. Followed soon after by Daryn Pittman, the Owasso, Okla., native trailed by a half-straight as the pair approached traffic.

Despite several cautions, Pittman was able to build momentum. With a run in the closing laps that brought the threat of a slide job into play, Pittman clipped the cushion to nearly send the No. 21 into the fence, giving Bell a clear path to victory.

Fighting engine woes, Pittman’s runner-up run was quite an achievement. “We don’t have a spare engine, so we weren’t able to change it,” said Pittman, who recorded his first career Chili Bowl podium in seven starts. “Luckily we have a really good engine-builder. I’ve got to thank Esslinger and their crew. They rebuilt this engine last year when we had issues and when we realized we could fix it today, it lasted for 54-and-three-quarter laps.”

Having led the first 25 laps, Grant crossed the line third in his second Chili Bowl A-Feature appearance. “It’s just a thrill to be driving for Clauson-Marshall Racing,” Grant said. “Obviously, I wanted to win for him (the late Bryan Clauson) really bad, but I’m on the podium at Chili Bowl so I should be happy about that.”

Exiting from the second C-Feature, Tanner Thorson charged through the field to a fourth-place finish with Jake Swanson making up the top-five. Tyler Courtney came home sixth with Zach Daum, from 11th, to seventh. Making his 14th consecutive and 18th overall A-Feature start, Arizona’s Jerry Coons Jr. came from a B-Main to finish eighth. Ronnie Gardner ninth was followed by Damion Gardner in 10th from the 16th starting spot.

Biggest mover through the Alphabet soup prelim lineup was Thomas Meseraull. Despite a DNF in the A-Feature, the driver from San Jose, Calif., passed 24 cars starting in the D-Feature to race into the Big Show. Meanwhile, the 2017 Chili Bowl Rookie of the Year is Donny Schatz, who finished seventh in the first B-Feature. The car-count reached a record 365 for the week-long extravaganza.

Dates for the 32nd event presented by General Tire are Jan. 9-13, 2018. Tickets go on sale in March. For continued updates, log onto http://www.chilibowl.com.